Crackpot Quilters’ Blog

OK, so here is a photo of the Summer ’08 Crackpot Quilt completed top.

And here is a photo of one of my “more pressing projects.” This is the quilt-in-progress for our Hungarian grandson, kis Kristof, born July 3.

The pattern is “Twistin’ Round the Rails” from The Giving Quilt by Kathy Cueva and Susan Ziegler. I have substituted a solid block of the focus print for the fence rail block in the original pattern, so I guess my version is “Twistin’ Round the Puppies.” The photo is an attempt to show that there will be a 1/4″ yellow inner border and then a wider border of the focus print. The binding will be the solid blue, and the backing will be the focus print. We are heading for the CLH this weekend, and finishing the top will be #1 priority during quilting times.

Here is the quilt for our first Hungarian grandchild, Blanka, ready for basting.

And here is a photo showing the backing fabric. The print is tiny pastel hearts. The plan is to finish it in time for our next trip to Hungary in early May. If all else fails, I figure I can stitch the label on the plane!

Last year, Mom and I took an absolutely wonderful class on “applipiecing” from Caryl Bryer Fallert at the Chicago quilt show. Our class project was a small block. If any of you ever have a chance to take a class from this amazing artist, I highly recommend it.

I finally got around to doing something with that block – I made it into a trivet, using a square cut from a felted wool sweater as the batting. My goal was to produce something somewhat heat-resistant, absorbent, and machine-washable to use on an end table as something I could set my coffee mug on. It took a few tries to get the top, batting, and backing placed in the right orientation so I could sew them together and end up with both outsides on the outside, and the inside on the inside – but to my (small) credit, I realized the error of my second attempt much more quickly than on my first attempt. My seam ripper got a good workout on this project.

This picture was taken before my first use of the trivet – a good thing, since I managed to spill coffee all over it right away. (It did prove its absorbency and machine-washability, and is now back in use on my living room end table)

Does it still count as “nesting” if the baby is four and a half months old?

Please to not look too closely at all the points that don’t line up. Especially not the center post (eek).

As with most of my projects, it turned out larger than I expected; the finished size is 30″ square. I don’t have fabric for the backing, so further progress is on hold until I can get out and get some. In the mean time, I’m working on creative things I can do with the mountain of leftover fabric…

Here is the not-a-circus-print quilt, also known as the quilt for my special friends, Jill and Kyle, and their baby due in late March. I finished the quilt this evening at 8:30. It is in the washer as I type. Eeeep!! [I just checked on it. It is at the end of the wash cycle and about to spin out. All appears to be well.] The baby shower for Jill is at 11:00 am tomorrow morning!

Here is a detail of the prints. As you can see, it is not a circus print; it is flying elephants and balloons.

And just for the sake of complete documentation, here is the very boring back.

Now it’s on to quilts for our Hungarian grandchildren, first for Blanks Lili, for which I have already purchased the fabric and decided on a pattern, and second for little baby boy Takacs, who is not due until July. I am on the lookout for an irresistible bright little boy print.

This is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a quilt in a day! As you can see, it’s a baby quilt and the pattern is very simple, but I’m still impressed that I did almost all of the cutting and all of the piecing except the outer border yesterday. I did the outer border today, and I’m very happy with how it looks. This will be for friends of ours, who had a baby girl about a month ago. Once this is done, I will move on to quilts for a baby girl due in early January and a baby boy due at the end of January.

A quick update on the quilting for Andrew’s quilt: I’ve finished the entire grid pattern now! I just need to quilt around the inner border, and then it’s on to the binding…